


Crazy New World

by wilddragonflying



Category: Wonder Woman (Movies - Jenkins), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Forgiveness, I have dubbed this ship, Introspection, Jealousy, POV Alternating, Past Relationship(s), Post-Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Slow Burn, Spoilers, Wonder Woman 1984 Spoilers, WonderCat, idk if there's another name for it but that's mine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28330584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilddragonflying/pseuds/wilddragonflying
Summary: After Maxwell Lord nearly destroyed the world in record time(even the Romans took a while to fully burn their empire down!), Diana focuses on moving on, appreciating this crazy new world now that she's seen it through Steve's eyes. Along the way, she finds someone else who needs a little bit of help learning to fly.But first she needs to learn to walk - just maybe not in high heels.
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Barbara Minerva
Comments: 23
Kudos: 215





	Crazy New World

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I wrote the first chapter of this immediately after seeing Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day, 2020. Why do you ask?
> 
> Look, there wasn't any readily-available WonderCat(that's my name for this ship and I'll go down with this ship) fic, that was queerphobic and I couldn't let it stand, not after I related so goddamn heavily to Barbara and her painfully awkward adorable shyness and word vomiting.

It takes the world about a week to get back to normal. 

It feels like it should take longer, Diana muses as she walks the now-familiar paths to the Smithsonian. The rubble from the day of chaos Maxwell Lord had caused has been cleaned, and little evidence remains of the fact that the world nearly ended. Still, at least it _didn’t_ end.

The glimpse of the Smithsonian Air and Space exhibit mural makes Diana’s breath catch in her chest, the old ache renewed by the hours she got to spend with Steve. She’ll need to learn to live with this pain again, she knows, but for now… For now, it’s still fresh. She’s mourning him all over again, but this time - 

_Thump._

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t - “ Diana cuts herself off, blinking. “Barbara?”

Barbara Minerva flinches from where she’s already kneeling on the floor, gathering her papers. “Hello, Ms Prince,” she says, without looking up; her voice is quiet, maybe even a little bit _ashamed,_ and Diana hesitates for only a moment before she kneels down, gathering a few papers that had flown out of Barbara’s reach.

“This feels familiar,” she ventures, aiming for joking, but Barbara doesn’t react, just takes the papers that Diana hands her without looking, stuffing them into her briefcase. 

“Thank you,” she says, already tucking the leather case under her arm and making to move around Diana; without thinking, Diana reaches out, lays a hand on Barbara’s arm. Barbara goes stone-still beneath her touch, and her heartbeat _thumps_ so loudly that, to Diana, it echoes against the walls of the building. 

Diana pulls her hand back, abruptly reminded that the last time she’d touched Barbara, it had been to hold her underwater, to use her strength against Barbara. “I’m sorry,” she blurts - it’s sudden enough that it finally gets Barbara to look up, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. _She’s wearing her glasses again,_ Diana realizes suddenly.

“What do _you_ have to be sorry for?” she asks.

“For not seeing you,” Diana answers, quiet. “For - For patronizing you.”

Barbara blinks, thrown, but her heartbeat has settled, at least, and while there’s still a rigid line of tension in her shoulders, it’s lessened, if only slightly. “I… don’t understand.”

“You were right, I was patronizing you,” Diana says. “I believed I was right, that it was the right thing to renounce the wishes - but I didn’t think of what you had wished for, _why_ you wished for it, because I. I was caught up in my own wish.”

“Steve the pilot,” Barbara guesses.

“Steve the pilot,” Diana agrees, venturing a small, uncertain smile. “There’s… a lot of history, behind the wish I made, and why I made it. But that doesn’t discount your history, and I should have listened to you.”

Barbara swallows hard enough that Diana can track the movement of her throat, and she reaches up to tuck a frizzy strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Well, I - I appreciate that,” she says, somewhat awkwardly, unsure. “And I’m sorry for the whole, y’know. Trying to rip you apart, thing.”

Diana feels her smile widen, and she dares to wink at Barbara, something warm in her chest when Barbara immediately flushes. “Well, I survived fighting Ares, but you were a worthy opponent,” she says, conspiratorial. “If you want to do lunch again, maybe I could tell you some more about it? Trade some of my history for some of yours.”

Barbara huffs a quiet breath, something that’s very nearly a chuckle. “Maybe later,” she says. “I think I still… have some things I need to work on first. Before I start trying to be _out_ there again.”

“I understand,” Diana says, nodding. “I’ll let you get back to work, then. You know where my office is.” She gives Barbara a wave, smiling when Barbara returns it with one of her own.

As she continues the walk to her office, Diana finds that there’s a new lightness in her step. She doesn’t think about it too much right now, content to let it be - but she thinks it feels an awful lot like the first time she took a leap on Themyscira.


End file.
